Day of Silence
by CrossoverQueen
Summary: Roy decides to say nothing for the day after meeting Hughes. Since he can’t say anything, he decides to write it. It doesn’t have quite the same impact. This is inspired by something that took place at school on Wednesday. RoyEd oneshot


**Day of Silence**

_What Day of Silence is:_ On April 13th, you say nothing for the day, and you show your teachers a note that explains why.

_What it's for:_ By being silent you represent the gay, lesbian, and bisexual community who stay quiet because they don't want to suffer for their sexuality. If you're gay, lesbian, or bi, you show how it impacts you. If you're straight, you show your support for them.

**A/N: **I participated in Day of Silence, but when I forgot to get an actual note for it I just wrote something like, "Please excuse my silence--I am participating in Day of Silence." My French teacher asked why I didn't have one of the notes, but then he said, "But you can't explain, because you can't talk." It was really hard not to talk, even though I'm normally quiet for hours at a time. It was a bit of a problem in Drama; another in my group had to read my lines for me. I'll include part of the real note in this, since my sister has one. Some other school districts might know about Day of Silence, so if you do, by all means tell me.

Personally I don't believe that you have to be silent every waking moment. I found out about it when my PE classmate wasn't talking like she usually did. So, around halfway through 1st, I kept quiet. As long as you actively take part in it for the greater part of the day, that's enough for me. I shall channel my classmate's behavior through Hughes. Sorry for the uber-long author's note.

-  
Roy looked into a grocery store as he heard the usual grocery noises--cash registers, cart and stroller wheels squeaking against the floor, and the occasional whiny child asking for their parents to buy something or other. Today they seemed a lot more distinct than usual.

As he looked around, he saw that adults and the vast majority of teens were silent. Was something wrong?

Hughes waved as he and Gracia passed the taisa by, Elicia humming a tune as she tagged along.

Roy waved back in relief--finally, someone normal. Wait a minute...

"Maes!" He called, slightly panicked. "Why aren't you forcing Elicia's baby photos on me?"

The officer looked insulted for a moment, and then fished out a piece of paper from his pocket.

"Please understand my reasons for not speaking today," Roy read quietly. "I am participating in the Day of Silence... What? Why?"

"Daddy's being quiet because he wants to help people!" Elicia said happily.

"It's a protest against the silence that gay people face. There are signs about it all over Central," Gracia explained. "I wanted to be quiet too, but someone has to look after Elicia, and being quiet is part of Maes' job anyway. So I'm telling the people taking part that they have my support." Hughes gave Gracia a hug, beaming, and then tapped another part of the note.

"My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by harassment, prejudice, and discrimination. I believe that ending the silence is--but Maes, you're not gay."

Hughes scribbled something on the back. _I don't have to be._

"Well..." Roy stated slowly. "Thank God. You'll stop tying up the military's phone lines. Today at least."

Hughes gave him another insulted look, as well as a light smack on the arm.

"Hey! You're supposed to be quiet, Maes--"

"Uncle Roy, Daddy didn't say anything," Elicia piped up, "so he wasn't breaking the rules when he hit you."

Hughes opened his mouth to say something, but then realized what he was doing and shut it with a disappointed air. Instead he wrote something else on the back of the note. _You try being quiet for the day._

"Me? But I've already been talking."

"You don't have to be quiet every waking moment, Roy," Gracia told him. "If you do participate though, know that you're not the only one."

Roy thought a moment as he realized the double meaning.

"Hey taisa, how's it going today?" Havoc asked as Roy walked into headquarters, thinking terribly hard about his encounter with Hughes and his family.

He nearly answered the other man but stopped, shaking his head.

"You're doing the silent thing too, taisa?" He asked. "You met Hughes, didn't you?"

Roy nodded.

"Yeah, Fury and Hawkeye are doing it too; it's weird when they're quiet, I just realized. You know how Fury usually says hi to people? They kept asking if something was wrong and he showed them a note. I'm avoiding Hawkeye, because if you ask her stupid questions like Farman did, she just pulls out her gun and shoots. Guess you won't be arguing with Ed today, will you?"

He shrugged. _That shrimp is probably going to find some other reason to yell if I don't call him short,_ he thought.

As time went on, Roy found it increasingly hard to keep quiet, and he was starting to feel nervous. Not that everyone was avoiding him--far from it, everyone seemed more talkative than usual--but it was like his energy was building up the longer he stayed silent.

At this rate, he felt that if he didn't say SOMETHING in reply to what someone said, he'd go crazy. His thoughts were beginning to overwhelm him.

With Hawkeye there was some relief; since she too was silent, there was nothing to answer to. Although that gun on her desk clearly showed that quiet or not, he still had paperwork to do.

Havoc suddenly walked into the office. "Taisa, I just realized--you can't say anything. And neither can Hawkeye. If you need anything just write it down."

Roy rolled his eyes and wrote on a piece of paper, _Get Fullmetal._

"Get full--huh?" Havoc asked, staring at the paper a moment. "Oh, Fullmetal! You're talking about Ed, right taisa?"

He could have sworn he heard Hawkeye stifle a chuckle as he nodded curtly.

"I'm on it, sir!" Havoc saluted and left the room.

The phone rang and Roy suppressed a groan. _Hawkeye can't pick it up either! What do we do?_ He finally picked up the phone to listen.

"H--" the sound was cut off. Judging by the tone, it was probably Hughes. Roy was about to speak before he too remembered.

"Sir, may I remind you that you can't talk right now?" Maria Ross asked on the other end. "The Colonel, too? Well, what about First Lieutenant Hawkeye? She isn't talking either? Then why did you bother to call if you can't talk yourself? ... Oh, you forgot."

Roy then heard a curious tapping sound, and a few scratching noises too. _Maes is using Morse code_, he realized._ Clever. Why didn't I think of that? _

...Oh yes, my **thoughts **are driving me crazy. He tapped out his own disgruntled goodbye and hung up as Hawkeye left to supervise the others at headquarters.

"All right, bastard taisa," came the voice of Edward Elric. "What do you want now?"

Roy turned and smirked. "F..." he trailed off.

Ed looked startled a moment, having heard no insult so far, then he grinned. "You're doing that Day of Silence thing, aren't you?"

Roy nodded.

"So... you can't talk no matter what I say to you?"

Roy's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but he nodded anyway.

"You have no luck with women." Ed stated loudly.

Roy leapt up, furious, but then realized he couldn't talk. _This goddamn Day of Silence just **had **to be the day Fullmetal's feeling confident!_

"How much sugar do you put in your coffee? Must not be enough, since you're always bitter."

Roy seethed as he went back to his seat, although he comforted himself with the knowledge that he could do better in the way of insults. Obviously Fullmetal was just reveling in the thought that Roy, for today, could not call him short.

"Taisa, are you a--" Ed started, but stopped as a crumpled piece of paper flew at his head. "Hey, no throwing stuff at me!"

Roy gestured for him to read it.

Ed smoothed the paper out hesitantly, and his eyes widened as he scanned the paper. "'Fullmetal, I can't believe I could actually SEE you coming through the'--WHAT? Who are you calling SHORT?"

Roy held his laughter in, but stared in shock as Ed, though clearly shaking with suppressed rage, simply tore up the piece of paper and stomped it into the floor with his metal leg. Apparently, writing insults was not an effective way to piss him off.

But, deep inside, he knew he should have known that writing an insult justwouldn't work.

"Just why are you DOING this anyway, taisa?" Ed asked.

Roy took out another piece of paper. _I'm helping Maes support the gay community; our silence represents their own._

"I wondered why Hawkeye and Fury were being so quiet. Hawkeye's scaring the crap out of people--she doesn't even give warnings before shooting."

_I can barely think straight._

Ed scoffed. "Figures. You're not used to being alone with your thoughts, are you taisa?"

Roy was surprised. _No. How do you know?_

"I needed a few weeks for my injuries to start healing; you can't put automail bases on unhealed flesh. I didn't feel like talking then, even to Al. So, I learned to deal with myself. And you're going to have to learn too if you want to stay sane through the day."

For some reason, Roy didn't have an urge to talk anymore. Rather, he did, but it wasn't as strong as it had been with the others. Perhaps it was because in this case, he didn't really _have_ to talk. Ed was just talking, and the most Roy had to do was listen.

_Have you done this before?_ Roy wrote, pushing it across the desk at Edward.

"Have I done this before? What do you mean?"

Finding no other way to express it without talking, the taisa simply drew his hand across his lips, an obvious gesture of silence.

"Not for a whole day, but yeah; I've stayed quiet for hours. When Winry and Pinako were making my first automail replacements I'd go into the room they worked in--I used a crutch, no way was I letting Al carry me like a baby--and Pinako would just talk to me if I wasn't up for talking myself."

_You could try keeping quiet for the day._

"Would it count, taisa? I've been talking to you for at least five minutes."

_It doesn't have to be for the whole day. I found out from Hughes around nine._

"Well, if it really doesn't matter... Guess I'll start now."

The resulting silence between the two was awkward. Ed shifted uncomfortably, but then went to sit on the couch, finding nothing else to do now that he wasn't talking. Roy went back to his paperwork, occasionally glancing over at the younger alchemist. Ed hadn't moved; his expression became rather pensive as time passed.

After a while he went back to Roy's desk and tapped on it, pointing to the door to show he was leaving.

Roy thought about it a moment, then went over to Ed and put a hand on his shoulder. When he stopped, turning to look at the taisa with annoyance, Roy was suddenly at a loss. Not only couldn't he speak, he had no idea why he'd stopped the blonde in the first place. It had been a random impulse--all this silence was probably getting to him. Ed, for some reason, was waiting quite calmly as Roy tried to sort things out in his head.

Without further notice, he bent down and gave Ed a kiss on the cheek. The younger alchemist started, his hand going to the spot where Roy kissed him, and then looked down as Roy caught his gaze. Yet despite Ed's considerable blush, the taisa noticed that he was smiling, albeit with obvious embarrassment.

Roy tried to keep a straight face as well, realizing that his own mouth was starting to turn up at the corners. He always smiled when he was embarrassed; it had been that way since he was a kid.

Ed locked his arms around Roy's neck, then released him as soon as it he'd done so. The gesture was as quick and impulsive as Roy's, which was just as well. Hawkeye had opened the door, looking confused as she saw Ed staring at the ground with an embarrassed smile and Roy with a similar expression. Ed waved to her as he left, ducking his head as he passed through the door.

And not one of them said a word.

Roy went back to his desk the same moment Hawkeye reached hers, still with a grin on his face as he resumed his paperwork with the following thought.

_Maybe this Day of Silence isn't so bad after all._

**-------  
A/N: **I was so annoyed when I didn't finish it on the 13th. I kept bugging my sis, "Hurry UP! I want to finish my oneshot!" I have a compulsion to finish things as quickly as possible, especially oneshots. And that part where Roy smiles because he's embarrassed? I always do that, I have no idea why. Well, tell me your thoughts on my latest fic.


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